January 30,AI + Quantum Physics DrivenAqemia, a biotech company, announced that it has raised €30 million (US$32.5 million) in Series A funding.
The company previously raised 30 million euros in October 2022, makingThe total amount of Series A financing reached 60 million euros (approximately 467 million RMB).。 Aqemia will use this new funding to accelerate the growth of its wholly-owned drug discovery programs and asset pipeline, and further expand its proprietary GenAI and deep physics drug discovery platform.。This round of financing was led by Wendel Growth.Aqemia's long-term partners Bpifrance Large Venture, Eurazeo, and Elaia participated.Aqemia, spun off from École Normale Supérieure in 2019, is committed to expanding the drug discovery process by utilizing unique world-class technology that combines quantum physics and machine learning.Since its establishment, the company has grown into a team of more than 50 people, established and expanded multiple collaborations with large pharmaceutical companies, and launched its own drug discovery pipeline, involving multiple projects from hit generation to in vivo testing.Aqemia mainly utilizes its generative artificial intelligence, deep physics algorithms, and platform to design novel drug molecules. Unlike other AI-driven platform technologies, which require training on chemical experimental data before the design phase begins, Aqemia will generate such data in-house from the start of each research project by performing large-scale, efficient physics-based computations.Aqemia's internal pipeline has already statistically counted several projects being tested on animals, mainly in oncology and immuno-oncology, and the next phase of projects will cover the entire therapeutic field.Maximilien Levesque, co-founder and CEO of Aqemia, said that the company is advancing these technologies into clinical trials.It is reported that the first clinical trial is expected to be carried out in 2025.
This new investment is inAqemiaFollowing the recent success of leadership in drug discovery projects and the entire drug discovery value chain, one of the most notable examples is the recent $140 million drug discovery agreement with Sanofi.Sanofi is not the first company to start collaborating with Aqemia.December 2021,French pharmaceutical company ServierAnd Aqemia Signed a cooperation agreement for small molecule drug discovery targeting undisclosed targets in immuno-oncology.The space for generative artificial intelligence in drug discovery is continuously expanding. Evozyne, a deep learning biotechnology startup, uses artificial intelligence to simulate millions of years of protein evolution to identify targets and raised $81 million in a Series B funding round in September 2023.Another AI-driven drug development company, Genesis Therapeutics, raised $200 million in its Series B financing round in August 2023.Large pharmaceutical companies are also engaging in deals with artificial intelligence technology to strengthen their product pipelines, as Merck, Genentech, and Eli Lilly collaborate with Amazon, Nvidia, and Genesis respectively.This new round of financing also involvesAqemiaAble to carry out recruitment in order to increase its staff from 50 to nearly 100 people by the end of the year.
